All right. I'm going to formally state it here. No more book buying* for the rest of the year. Aside from the fact I'm filled to the brim with books with no place to call their own on my bookshelves, I've taken a long, hard look at my credit card bill and decided I no longer want to finance my credit card company's CEO's trips to Jamaica, or wherever he goes or whatever he does. I've been thinking of all the things I could do with the money I put towards this bill each and every month and worse the money that goes towards the finance charge (which is essentially just giving away my hard earned cash). If I could crack down on spending for a while I could get this under control, and thankfully I only have this one outstanding debt. It helps that I've been thinking for a while now of all the books I have on hand that I do want to read but get sidetracked from with new purchases.
So, it always helps to have a little fanfare, get excited about the prospect of something new. Being excited is a good thing when it comes to knowing you're Not going to be spending any money for a good long while! I've scanned my piles close at hand and it was easy coming up with thirteen titles I would love to read sometime soon (so no need to buy anything new!):
East of the Sun, Julia Gregson
Daphne, Justine Picardie
My Antonia, Willa Cather
Uncommon Arrangements: Seven Portraits of Married Life in London Literary Circles 1919-1939, Katie Roiphe
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larsson
The Falcons of Montabard, Elizabeth Chadwick
Henrietta's War, Joyce Dennys
The Three Musketeers, Alexandre Dumas
Life Class, Pat Barker
A Mind to Murder, P.D. James
A Room with a View, E.M. Forster
The Reluctant Widow, Georgette Heyer
A Separate Peace, John Knowles
*You'll have noticed that little asterisk. There's always a little bit of fine print at the bottom of the page. I do occasionally get a credit from Amazon (this month it was $23.00), which I think is fair to spend as long as I don't go over by too much. And library book sales are so cheap and I really do need to support my local public library, so as long as I pay cash I count those purchases as fair game. The thing is, if I can just make it through the holidays, I'm sure I'll get a gift card or two to spend on new books once more! We'll see if a year from now my monthly credit card statement is Empty!